Reply #14: Well there are definitely some mental issues going on [View All]

[K8-EEE]

Thanks for your thoughtful post.

I do think the one nurse was correct and that there is some kind of intermittent dementia happening, but she is still sharp intellectually.

One issue is that she & my mom had a lot of shame and covering up with their mother's mental issues when they were growing up. They had lots of secrets re: the crazy mom and never wanted their friends over and that kind of thing. Their mom did end up institutionalized, shock treatments the whole nine, maybe that is her fear.

Also the things she worries about are kind of strange. She is obsessed with her condo neighbors finding out about her problems and was telling 911 when she called them to sneak upstairs with no lights or sirens and when she returned home she wanted a time when all the neighbors were at work. Her isolation really has reached an agorophobia type level b/c there is not one person in this world that she would open her door to, not even delivery people.

Her father lived to be 97 and insisted on living alone in a very remote area, which people got on his case about but I agree, he had a right to live as he wanted and he ended up dying peacefully in his sleep. He was happy and competent though his whole life. He didn't have this downhill slide I see with her, or the isolation.